hollywood melon man

Chapter 353: The Final Days Before the Series Finale

As the release date of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" draws closer, more and more fans are traveling to China, the filming location.

The local department was smart and held several "Lord of the Rings" fairs, which attracted a large number of movie fans.

In recent years, with the global popularity of "The Lord of the Rings" series, more and more tourists travel to China every year, but this increase is relative.

After joining the WTO, the local government further liberalized its access policy and negotiated with several countries for visa-free entry upon arrival, but it is still not very convenient.

Therefore, several relevant departments joined together to study a 144-hour visa-free policy.

This means that a foreign tourist will have 144 hours of visa-free time from the time of entry, and can use this time to travel.

There was also a 144-hour visa-free policy in the previous life, but the biggest difference between this one and that one is that this one allows you to go to other cities, but you have to report in advance.

In the past, the 144-hour visa-free policy could only be used in the city of landing, and then one had to go to other cities in other countries.

But this one doesn’t require that, you can just go back after shopping.

Of course, doing so may bring some hidden dangers.

However, in the face of huge economic benefits, this is not a problem as long as good supervision is done.

Lao Tian has now moved from Big Scissors to a boss in a higher department. He has always been committed to promoting the development of the film industry.

He originally thought that movies were just movies, but after seeing Hollywood movies, he discovered that there are so many profit models for movies.

For example, the sales of peripheral products from the "Lord of the Rings" series made him jealous, and it also brought huge revenue from tourism.

However, in China, one issue that needs to be considered when making peripheral products is piracy.

DVD sales in North America are very hot, but in China, the sales of DVDs of "The Lord of the Rings" series are basically contributed by piracy.

This is not difficult to understand. After all, genuine products are too expensive, and purchasing power varies from region to region.

It took North America many years of market development to reach its current state.

"We must provide good service and make foreign tourists feel at home, do you understand?" Lao Tian said to local leaders during his inspections of tourist attractions in various places.

The local person in charge patted his chest and assured: "Don't worry, we will definitely provide good service and logistical support."

"Very good," Lao Tian was quite satisfied.

He walked in the Hobbit town at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions with a lot of foreign tourists coming and going.

The local people don’t even need guidance from the relevant departments, they will spontaneously take out some small commodities to do business.

These exquisite little commodities are very popular. Although they are very expensive for locals, they are quite cheap for foreigners.

Clothes, jewelry, shawls and some snacks are quite popular.

The local area has built a tourism system around this Hobbit town and connected it to the ancient city.

In this era when the concept of tourism is not yet widespread, this place is already considered quite advanced.

We don’t know what the future will be like, but at least at this time, it is an indisputable fact that a large influx of tourists every year brings huge income to the local area.

After inspecting here, on the way back, someone suggested: "Old Tian, ​​isn't the third part of The Lord of the Rings coming out soon? Why don't we invite them to hold the premiere in China?"

This is a good idea, and Lao Tian was very tempted, but in the end he shook his head: "This is impossible, little Gilbert will not agree to it."

"why?"

Lao Tian explained: "At present, the biggest market for The Lord of the Rings is still in Europe and the United States. Our market is not big enough, so people won't bother with it."

Currently, the highest-grossing film in the Chinese mainland market is "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", with a box office of 3.2 million RMB. The second place is also "The Fellowship of the Ring", which is also from the "Lord of the Rings" series, with a box office of 2.89 million RMB.

These days it’s difficult for many Chinese-language films to make over 100 million yuan. After Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the era of blockbusters has begun, and the box office may continue to rise in the future.

Although the Chinese market is receiving attention nowadays, it is indeed not good enough.

So Gilbert Jr. would not consider holding the premiere in China. It might be possible in the future, but it is definitely not feasible now.

The New Year has passed, and the release date of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is getting closer.

During the Super Bowl in February, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" once again released a 30-second trailer, and for the first time released footage of the Battle of Minas Tirith and the Battle of the Black Gate.

Although it was only a few seconds, the grand and passionate scene was enough for movie fans to imagine for a long time.

At the same time, the Oscars also announced this year's nominations, and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" received six nominations.

But everyone knows that the Academy cannot give an award to the second film in the series. It will be next year before "The Lord of the Rings" wins an Oscar.

After jointly acquiring and holding shares in Cantaloupe Studios, Warner Bros. and Disney have cooperated more closely, and this time is no exception.

Warner Bros. plans to release the film simultaneously in several major markets such as the UK, France, and Germany, along with the North American market, instead of having to wait a week or two as before.

When the news came out, local movie fans were extremely happy.

They had read in the newspapers how popular the film was in North America, and they were envious. And they had to wait for a long time, which made them feel like ants were crawling on their sides. But now they can watch the movie at the same time as North America, and they no longer have to envy North American movie fans.

As usual, Gilbert Jr. brought the main creators of "The Lord of the Rings" to attend the Oscars and presented the Best Picture award with Ian McKellen.

This year's awards ceremony had a sense of rightness, with two black actors among the Best Actor nominees.

This isn’t to say that black nominees are bad, but Denzel Washington and Will Smith didn’t perform as well as other actors who lost out on the nominations.

In order to be correct, the Academy forced the two to be nominated.

The final winner was Denzel Washington, which was surprising.

Previous favorites for the award, Russell Crowe and Sean Penn, performed better than Denzel Washington, but in the end he was the winner.

If Denzel Washington's award is understandable, then Halle Berry's award is completely unacceptable.

Nicole Kidman was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in "Moulin Rouge", but ultimately lost to Halle Berry.

This Australian actress has a bad temper. Later at the celebration party, she complained to Tom Cruise and Gilbert Jr.:
"That's damn right, if I had lost to Judi Dench or any of the others I would have been fine with that.

But losing to her, I can’t understand it.”

Little Gilbert raised his glass, looked at Tom Cruise, and then smiled helplessly: "There is no way, Mary, the college must consider the black movement, and there must be a balance."

"Fuck balance," Nicole Kidman whispered in a voice that only the three of them could hear, "Fuck niggers!"

"Hey!" Little Gilbert reminded the bad-tempered woman, "This is a public place, be careful not to be overheard."

"I'm just saying this in front of you," Nicole Kidman said, holding Tom Cruise's hand, "You didn't win the Best Director award tonight."

"Yes," Gilbert Jr. didn't really care, after all, it wasn't a black director who stole his Best Director award.

But even if a black director won the Best Director award, Gilbert Jr. didn't really care.

After all, as I said before, it is impossible for the Academy to recognize the second film.

So the ones who should be angry are the other directors.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" won Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects, but nothing else.

But the outside media has predicted that the Academy will definitely give recognition to the third film, because if it doesn't recognize the third film, the Oscars will no longer be trusted.

So Gilbert Jr. was in a very calm state of mind. He had already won the Oscar for Best Director, so there was nothing to be nervous about.

After the Oscars, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" was officially released in North America, and the film's North American box office ultimately settled at $5.86 million.

The overseas film market has basically ended. Screenings are still continuing in a few regions, but the box office revenue is basically negligible.

The film's final global box office total was $15.58 billion, temporarily ranking second in film history.

The reason why it is temporary is that there will be films that surpass "The Two Towers" at any time, such as "The Return of the King".

As the release date draws closer, Gilbert Jr. starts to get busy.

His social media platforms became active and he frequently appeared in the media.

Not only that, Gilbert Jr. also planned a live broadcast on the Internet. Although it was broadcast in the form of text and pictures, it also attracted the participation of millions of movie fans.

Live streaming of online videos is not feasible these days, but live streaming in the form of text and pictures is not technically difficult.

During the live broadcast, fans can ask questions to Gilbert Jr., who will then answer them.

However, these questions were selected by the staff responsible for the live broadcast, and it is impossible for Gilbert Jr. to answer the questions of millions of fans.

During the live broadcast, Gilbert Jr. focused on sharing the difficulties of filming "The Lord of the Rings", from preparation to filming to post-production and so on.

A fan asked, "Does Director Gilbert Jr. usually go online?"

"Of course, I pay close attention to the feedback from fans, and my goal is to make movies that fans will like."

This answer made the fans very happy, as it meant that little Gilbert was always paying attention to them and was really spoiled.

Another fan asked: "In the second film, we can see the shock of the Battle of Helm's Deep. Will there be a scene in the third film that is more shocking than this scene?"

"Of course there will be. The Battle of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Black Gate both surpass the Battle of Helm's Deep in all aspects. I hope you will like it."

Gilbert Jr.'s answer made fans more excited about the movie.

This live interaction lasted for more than two hours and was the first time since the birth of the Internet that a movie was promoted in this live interactive format.

The effect was pretty good. According to rough statistics, a total of more than two million fans flocked to the live broadcast room to interact with little Gilbert.

This novel way of promotion opened the eyes of other film companies.

This little Gilbert always comes up with something new.

(End of this chapter)